Jan
News from Communities, Politics
Increased Agression Toward Citizens in Cinquera: January 13, 2009
As Election Approaches, Increased Agression Toward Citizens in Cinquera
January 13, 2009
Cinquera, a municipality close to Suchitoto that is governed by the FMLN, has recently been the target of dangerous aggression by the ARENA party.
Last month, ARENA supporters in Cinquera sent a list of 60 community members to the head of the Armed Forces describing the people listed as ¨violent and dangerous because they are armed.¨
This list of 60 people includes the full names of each person, their personal identification number, and the exact location of their house in the municipality of Cinquera. All members of the Municipal Directive of Cinquera, the ARDM, were named on the list.
In a meeting at the Ombudsperson for Human Rights office, Rodolfo Sosa, the ARENA candidate for Mayor, said that he had been involved in making this list. The reason for sending the list, he said, was because he worried that the ARENA Presidential Candidate would be attacked when he visited Cinquera. Sosa gave no proof as to why the people listed were dangerous.
At a meeting, a representative from the Human Rights Office stated to Sosa that it is very dangerous to denounce community members as violent without proof to back the claim.
The ARDM has denounced this list to the Attorney General´s Office, the National Civilian Police and the Criminal Court, but as of now, but none of these government bodies have accepted their declaration.
ARDM members say that they worry about the possible dangers of the publication of the list. ¨Even if the Army does not come into Cinquera looking for us, it is possible that some other person, whether they be related to the former death squads or gangs, will receive a copy of the list. Because they will have all of our personal information, they will put us in great danger,¨ said one member of the ARDM.
The list comes after, on November 27th, 2008, Sosa´s car was shot at while he was driving through one of the communities in Cinquera. ARENA party members blamed the FMLN mayor, Guillermo Rivera Contreras, staff in the Mayors office and Don Pablo Alvarenga, who is a well known community member and the Mayor’s father-in-law. All of the accused where elsewhere in the community at the time of the shooting, including some who were participating in a church service at the time.
Sosa had no proof to back his claims, and the FMLN party in Cinquera has denounced the accusations as defamation during the electoral campaign. A witness, Miguel Artiga, saw people in an ARENA campaign truck at the location and time of the shooting.
The municipal elections will take place on Sunday.
